2012 Charges 10 Seconds then stops

[Darryl]

I have a 2012 Nissan LEAF SL that stopped charging over the weekend. I brought it home with a low SOC. When plugged in, the first charging light would start blinking and you could hear the charging commence, but on the third blink which is about 10 seconds later, the charging would stop. No charging timers were set and I pressed the "charger override" button.
Using LeafSpy I was able to get the following codes:
B29C1 236C Charger EVSE VC-98
P3173 00C0 EV/HEV On Board Charger Sys EVC-236

Charging shut off would happen with my 240v Clipper Creek Charger as well as the original 120v only portable charger. I did try disconnecting the 12v battery and clearing the codes, multiple times, but the results were the same. I understand the car may charge with Chademo, however the closest unit is 50+ miles away. I did a bit of research on the internet and it seems this is not the diode issue, so I took the car to the dealership today.

Is there a shop in the general New Orleans that would specialize in Hybrid/Electric car repairs.
Has anyone else had the issue? And is there a solution beside replacing the onboard charger?

 

[coulomb]

I have a 2012 Nissan LEAF SL that stopped charging over the weekend. ... And is there a solution beside replacing the onboard charger?

There is the option to repair it, or get it repaired.

The 2012 on-board chargers are made by Nichicon, with a similar design to the ones in most iMiEVs. There are a few usual-suspect faults with the iMiEV chargers: pre-charge resistors, high voltage DC capacitors, and some AC EMI/surge filter capacitors that physically ooze their innards. The pre-charge relay contacts can also pit and become high resistance, often taking out the pre-charge resistors in the process.

iMiEV owners seem to have bad more issues, and the best resource is probably this topic on a sister forum. You do need a fair bit of electronics expertise to repair these, however, and they are not designed with easy service in mind. Finding someone that can do this sort of board level repair is likely difficult as well.

So repair is an option, but you may well not be able to use that option. It's frustrating and wasteful, as the repair often involves of the order of $10 in parts, plus hundreds of dollars in labor if you have to pay someone else.

 

[ecarcoinc]

I have a 2012 Nissan LEAF SL that stopped charging over the weekend. I brought it home with a low SOC. When plugged in, the first charging light would start blinking and you could hear the charging commence, but on the third blink which is about 10 seconds later, the charging would stop. No charging timers were set and I pressed the "charger override" button.
Using LeafSpy I was able to get the following codes:
B29C1 236C Charger EVSE VC-98
P3173 00C0 EV/HEV On Board Charger Sys EVC-236

Charging shut off would happen with my 240v Clipper Creek Charger as well as the original 120v only portable charger. I did try disconnecting the 12v battery and clearing the codes, multiple times, but the results were the same. I understand the car may charge with Chademo, however the closest unit is 50+ miles away. I did a bit of research on the internet and it seems this is not the diode issue, so I took the car to the dealership today.

Is there a shop in the general New Orleans that would specialize in Hybrid/Electric car repairs.
Has anyone else had the issue? And is there a solution beside replacing the onboard charger?

What did you find to be the problem with your car?

 

[Jnovoseljr]

The car is most likely protecting itself from a high voltage danger. If the charger, heater or any of the high voltage modules are misfunctioning, the car will stop charging to prohibit further damage. You may want to make an appointment with your Nissan dealer.

 

[ahoti]

I have a 2012 Nissan LEAF SL that stopped charging over the weekend. I brought it home with a low SOC. When plugged in, the first charging light would start blinking and you could hear the charging commence, but on the third blink which is about 10 seconds later, the charging would stop. No charging timers were set and I pressed the "charger override" button.
Using LeafSpy I was able to get the following codes:
B29C1 236C Charger EVSE VC-98
P3173 00C0 EV/HEV On Board Charger Sys EVC-236

Charging shut off would happen with my 240v Clipper Creek Charger as well as the original 120v only portable charger. I did try disconnecting the 12v battery and clearing the codes, multiple times, but the results were the same. I understand the car may charge with Chademo, however the closest unit is 50+ miles away. I did a bit of research on the internet and it seems this is not the diode issue, so I took the car to the dealership today.

Is there a shop in the general New Orleans that would specialize in Hybrid/Electric car repairs.
Has anyone else had the issue? And is there a solution beside replacing the onboard charger?

Don't know if OP is still at it, but... My 2012 had the same issue @ 99k miles. I don't think I did anything outside the ordinary either - may have had power outage at the time, not sure. For the last 25k miles I had used a 3rd party 240V charger, Duosida I think. I pulled out the OBC from the back of the car, opened it up and found a few busted capacitors. Replaced them and put it all back in. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fix it. I don't know what other components are damanged and with my limited electronics knowledge, gave up on it. Visibly I couldn't see any other issues and would have had to measure many many more components. That was my experience...

 

[Gamehunter]

My 2012 was doing the same thing so I opened up the on board charger, see photos. Does this look like a common fail and can it be fixed? Does anyone sell a replacement board?

 

[w7gz]

My 2012 was doing the same thing so I opened up the on board charger, see photos. Does this look like a common fail and can it be fixed? Does anyone sell a replacement board?

Looks like you had some fireworks. The transistors could easily be replaced but not sure if that would fix the board. Worth a try perhaps.

Have you checked eBay for the OBC?

 

[nlspace]

@Gamehunter, Your board looks like it could be repaired.

Did the white ceramic pre-charge resistors get any damage, or the pre-charge relay next to them?

First i would recommend to check the diode voltage drops in the waffle plate, a good schematica can be found Laef waffle plate

If there are no shorts or blown diodes/transistors in the waffle plate, then replace all those blown caps and the diode partially hidden under the RTV.

This is not a common failure but it seems like there have been a few showing with this same damage.

 

[Gamehunter]

Thank you, we’ll give it a try